Fairy Tale (Remake)
by El-Queso
Summary: (remake) Jade West tells her child of the short life of his father. Told through the eyes of Chase Brighton, a lost soul just looking for his fairy tale. JadeXOC, Rated T for violence, language, questionable content and uncensored sarcasm.
1. Chapter 1

_ The storm outside knocked on his window with thunder, and the rain pattaered along, seeking access. _

_ The little boy was certain it was out to get him. He shook under his covers and cried softly. _

_ He screeched when his door opened, only to see his mother, a soft faced young woman with brunette hair and slightly one too many wrinkles for her age. _

_ She silently strode to her son and wrapped her arms around him. "Shh baby it's gonna be okay. Shh." He still whimpered even as the thunder moved away and the lightning flashes ceased. "Do you want mommy to read you a story?"she cooed, wiping the hair out of his face. He nodded, his watered eyes growing bright. _

_ She strode over to the door and for a moment the child feared she had left him, but she returned seconds later with a small notebook clutched in her hand. It was old, wrinkled and obviously worn. _

_ The boy wrinkled his nose at the book but his mother gave him a reassuring smile. "I figured your old enough to know about your father. It's only fair." _

_ The boy gasped. He had been asking for years about his father, but she had only told him the cliché "I'll tell you when you're older." He grinned in excitement and nodded rapidly, indicating for her to read it. _

_ She smiled, "Now, like you, your father was a man of few words. He didn't waste his breathe, everything he said had importance. He kept a diary-" She indicated the notebook in her hands, "But he didn't like to write, so most of it will be from memory." _

_ The boy nodded impatiently, eager for her to start. _

_ "Now your father did not have a good childhood. His mother was dead and his father was in jail, so he was raised by his mean uncle. Because of this, he didn't know any better and did stupid things when he was a kid. He broke the law, and part of the required therapy was to go to Hollywood arts for an outlet for his natural music and acting talent." _

_The boy nodded, not quite sure he understood even half that sentence. _

_ Without further ado, she opened the notebook and read the very first line,_

"Life isnt a fairy tale.

If you get a happily ever after, youre one lucky son of bitch."

"_Tsssssssss" _ The faucet cut the silence of the morning with surprising volume. A pair of hands reached down to splash some water onto their owner's face, and then the tap was quickly shut off before it would wake unwanted company.

He examined his face, staring at his angular features and bright green eyes, his jaw muscles twitching. His nerves where getting to him, he took deep breathes but he still had intrusive thoughts of every worst case scenario fluttering into his mind's eye. Changing school wasn't easy for anyone.

After quickly running a comb through his wavy brunnette hair, he turned on his heel and exited the bathroom. Murmuring too himself , he crossed the small hallway to his nearly empty bedroom and grabbed his red backpack, surveyed his room for anything he may have forgot, and turned sharply yet again.

The young man walked as quickly as he could through his living room, as to quickly be rid of the gross smell of puke, spilled alcohol and bean dip hat was emitting from the couch. He silently sidestepped one of his uncle's beer cans and slipped out the unlocked door to his tiny apartment.

Closing the door slowly, the boy jogged lightly down the steps of the complex and dissapeared.

"But _Toriii. _I just want to borrow 4 pairs of pants! None of mine show off my _faboulous _ass!"

Tori Vega was a generous, giving girl. But her sister was the polar opposite, and at only 6:45, she had already had enough of her.

"Oh, no." She snapped, reaching her locker in the very decorated halls of Hollywood arts. "I know how this goes. I lend you my clothes, you refuse to give them back when I need the, claiming they've been yours "since forever""

Trina stamped her foot and whined, "Is this about that green scarf? 'Cause that's been mine-"

"Since forever, yeah I know." Tori sighed, opening her locker and grabbing several notebooks. "You're not getting my pants, Trina."

Her elder sister hissed and slammed Tori's locker "UGHHHH! I hate you!" She turned and stomped down the hall, knocking poor SinJin's books out of his hands on the way.

Rolling her eyes, Tori twisted her combo back into the metal door and swung the door open again. She absentmindedly glanced to the right and noticed that the locker directly next to hers was now blank.

She momentarily wondered when the locker would be replaced with a new user. Lockers where never blank for very long at HA.

"New student, huh?" Tori glanced over her shoulder to see her good friend, Andre standing there, his trademark smile set on his face. Andre was a medium-height, well built African American teenager. Next to him was her other friend, Caterina. Cat was very short, and also very, well, absent-minded.

"Yeah! I wonder what they're like!" Tori said in a merry tone, shutting her locker and turning to face her friends. Cat looked up from playing with her skirt and smiled. "Once, my brother got a new student in his school!" She said in her out of focus voice, "My brother's school has the best uniforms! They're bright and orange! So colorful!" She squealed and jumped in the air, concluding her story.

Andre and Tori shared a quick look before he gently touched her shoulder. "Uh, Cat? I'm not so sure-" Tori let out a gasp and shut Andre up by pointing. "Look! It must be the new kid!"

Strolling down the hall was their guidance counselor Lane, and ambling behind him was a Boy slightly taller than Andre. He obviously wasn't listening to the ongoing tour given by Lane.

Walking past the trio, Lane stopped at the Blank locker next to Toris. "And this is going to be your locker! Now, school rules say you have to decorate it, so I'd get started on ideas during your free period!" He waited for a response but the boy was staring at the nearby vending machine, clearly wondering when they'd reach _that _during the tour.

"Chase?" Lane asked. He leaned forward and snapped his fingers near his face. "What? Yeah. Decorating.." Chase trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck and staring at his sneakers.

Lane sighed, fake enthusiasm drained, clearly not in the mood for this, this early in the morning.

He happened to glance over and see the small group of friends, all blatantly staring at the exchange. Clapping his hands excitedly, he grinned and announced "Chase, this is Tori, Andre and Cat!" and motioned to the friends.

The group, surprised by the introduction, where friendly nonetheless. "Hey!" Said Tori, quickly waving and swinging back and forth on her heels. "Hiiiiiiii!" Cried Cat, smiling hugely and grabbing her hair to begin twisting it. "Sup." Said Andre, Nodding his head.

Chase eyed them carefully for a moment, and then returned Andre's nod. Lane looked back and forth between the teenagers before clapping his hands again. "Good! Fast Friends!" He made a move to push Chase towards them, but thought better of it when the taller boy glared down at the him.

"Okay! So You three are his new escorts! I have a new bottle of lotion waiting for me!" and he walked off, rubbing his hands together in excitement.

Chase looked down at his feet again, not really sure what to do. Tori and Andre looked at each other, not really sure what to do. Cat, ever naïve, faced no such social obstacles and took a confident step forward and reached up to touch his ears. "I like your piercings!" she said with a huge smile. Chase slowly took her hand away. "Thanks." He murmured, face flushed.

Tori also took a step forward. "Hi! I'm Tori…which I guess you knew already…" She trailed off, not sure where to go with it.

"Um.." Chase said, not sure either. He then turned on his heel and walked away very fast.

Chase's face was stil' burning as he slowed down once he rounded a corner. How humiliating! He knew he was bad at talking to people, but that was because people where usually quick to shun him. But that had been a perfectly suitable group of people to make friends with, and he had blown it!

Just then, a very musical bell sounded over the intercom and the colorful halls where empty in a flash. Chase sighed when he realized that idiot counselor had neglected to give him a schedule. He groaned and made his way to the front office for the second time that morning.

"And he just ran off?" Beck asked

"Yeah!" Tori said, setting her backpack down and pulling up a chair in their acting class.

Her friend Beck and his girlfriend Jade, along with Robbie, Andre and Cat also pulled up chairs to form a circle.

"Well, of course he ran, he saw your face." Jade, the gothic girl, said matter-of-factly, not looking up from the nails she was filing.

Tori chose to ignore this jab, instead looking to Andre as he opened his mouth. "He seemed really shy. Lane probably just overwhelmed him by shoving him into a group of such good-looking individuals!" He grinned at his wit and leaned back.

They all looked up at the door, expecting their Tardy teacher, but instead Chase himself walked in.

He looked around as the classroom fell silent, looking at him as if they expected him to perform some sort of trick. He bit his lip nervously, feeling his hand fly back to the rear of his neck.

After a few seconds of silence, Toris voice broke the air. "Come sit with us, Chase!"

Chase Examined them for a moment in disbelief. They wanted to sit with _ him_? He slowly walked over, lifting up a yellow chair on the way.

Tori and Cat scooted back and Chase set his bag down and sat,


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey, guys." The group that was surrounding Tori's locker went silent and stared. Chase _never_ said the first word. After a moment, they returned the greeting and went back to socializing.

Beck was currently engaged in an animate argument with Robbie about the screenwriting paper due that day ("No! It only had to involve 4 foreign customs and 1 character who doesn't speak English, I'm telling you!")

Jade, after a few moments of trying to catch Beck's attention, finally rolled her eyes and grabbed Chase's wrist and yanked him, directing him towards the vending machine.

"Im thirsty" She growled, her tone indicating that thirst was not her only need to be especially crabby this morning.

Chase followed slightly behind her, avoiding some larger seniors who where obviously looking to cause trouble with lower classmen.

They stopped at the machine and she yanked open her bag a little too hard, ripping it and sending her books and other items tumbling too the ground. Instead of reacting with a furious tantrum, as one would expect, she simply closed her eyes, sighed, and leaned against the machine, tossing her ruined bag in the general direction of the trashcan.

She opened them to find Chase offering her his now empty backpack, his only binder now in his other arm. She swiped it with a muttered "Thanks." And bent over to stuff her items in it.

Chase glared daggers at some Freshmen who where openly checking her ass out but relaxed once she stood back up. She shouldered the bag and stated, "You're not getting this back." Chase just shrugged and stared right back at her. She narrowed her brown eyes and they stared at each other for a full minute. "What's you're deal, Brighton?"

He raised an eyebrow, surprised how mean one girl could be to her friend who was willing to help her. He said nothing though, holding his tongue and indicating with his eyes for her to elaborate.

"You show up here, join our merry little group of _friends," _the word dripped off her mouth with venomous sarcasm, "And you haven't said a complete sentence all week."

Chase shifted uncomfortably, and muttered, "What do you care?" Jade cocked her head, now her turn to raise an eyebrow. "Look, the others seem to think you're some mysterious, silent type just like from the movies or something,"

She trailed off, stepping towards him, closing the space between them to a mere inch. "But I think you're just a scared little boy." She whispered maliciously, both eyebrows hiked to the top of her forehead, eyes challenging him to say otherwise.

Chase took a step back, stared right back, and within an instant he was walking away, walking at a slightly faster pace than normal, face turning red.

Sitting in school chairs was certainly a new experience for Chase, he never really showed up for school in his previous years of quote, unquote "Education". He furiously tried to get comfortable, shifting his butt and crossing his legs before giving up and allowing his head to fall down on the desk.

He suppressed a hiss as his side was poked. He whipped his head up, glaring at Cat, who sat in the desk directly next to him, giggled and stuck her tongue out. He smiled slightly; it was impossible to stay mad at her. Everyone in his new circle of friends where so _touchy _though, he would have to hammer it in there heads that he _despised _being touched in any way.

Finally, the bell rang and his required history of performing class was finally over. Cat bolted, squealing and shouting about how badly she had to pee. Chase shook his head, wondering where Cat got her energy. He reached down for his backpack as everyone began to leave, only to come up empty and remember that he'd "lent" it to Jade this morning.

_Jade._ Why on Earth had done something so generous for someone so bossy, mean, sarcastic, judgmental-

As he was fuming over Jade, he left the lecture hall and nearly ran straight into the devil herself. She glanced at him but continued walking towards the front door. He sighed, walking straight across the hall and unlocked his locker. Inside was absolutely nothing.

He sighed, not really knowing what he'd expected. Perhaps he wished his backpack had reappeared, he did look rather stupid carrying around his binder everywhere. He leaned up against it, running his hand through his hair.

After a moment of thought, he took off his cross necklace and tossed it into the empty space, since it was beginning to drive him insane.

He closed it, gave Tori a smile and a nod as she arrived at her locker, and walked towards and out the front door, glad for the long day to be over.

As he soaked in the rays of California sunlight, he looked up to see Jade leaning against the bike rack. "Finally." She stated, falling into step beside him, texting rapidly. Chase just rolled his eyes. People in Hollywood where so odd.

The following few days Chase shed his status as "New kid" and slowly sunk out of the attentions of his peers, sinking into the crowd. He now had a group of friends with which he felt fairly comfortable, and he tried his best to keep up with homework and assignments, because he knew if he did a poor job, he'd be pulled out by the government and forced to pursue some other way to fulfill his debt to society.

As he walked home, finished with his second Wednesday at Hollywood Arts, he often did catch attention from other kids, whether by girls cooing at him or Seniors teasing him, he realized that this happened only when his friends weren't around. More specifically, on the days which Jade didn't walk him home.

He dodged a large group of senior boys, cologne raiding his nostrils, coughing as they passed, all laughing obnoxiously at something. One of them stuck their leg out, tripping him to the ground, causing them to laugh even harder.

Chase growled angrily as he landed on his side, his binder sliding off onto the road, spilling its contents everywhere. Immediately the large group of older boys where upon him, all laughing even louder. Rubbing his side and eying them, he tried to get past the circle they had made around him, but he was shoved back by a particularly tall one.

"Woah, woah little man!" He said teasingly, pushing Chase back with his finger. "You seem to have scuffed my brand new shoes when you stepped on them!" He mad a special point of motioning to his completely scuff-free, brand new nikes that where clearly in the $300 range.

Chase's head was swimming. This was just like back in Detroit, he was surrounded by a group of boys much bigger and tougher than him, and they weren't gonna let him out of this the easy way.

"Now, im a reasonable, handsome young man," The senior stated, grinning and flipping his hair, flashing a pretty boy smile. "If you apologize, we won't shove your head in the toilet for the rest of the year. Probably."

Chase glared up at the boy, trying his best to seem tough, although he was only a mere 5'11" to his 6'4".

"You're just a wannabe, asshole." Chase stated. The seniors all laughed and jeered at this, mocking him in his choice of a comeback.

The senior just snorted and leaned down so he was eye level with Chase. "Look, kid. I'll teach you about runnin' your faggot little mouth-"

He never finished the thought as a fist connected with his jaw. The senior took a step back, hand flying to grab his chin. It never made it though, and another punch landed him right on the bridge of the nose, shattering his expensive sunglasses and doubling him over in pain.

By now most of the group had backed away a considerable distance and they all watched in shock as the infuriated Chase grabbed their friend in the back of the head and brought his face down on his knee not one, not two, not three, but four times.

But everyone scattered when a police siren blared, leaving Chase alone with the unconscious body of a new friend.

For once, Chase's uncle was up in time for dinner. They sat in silence and ate their micro waved tv dinner. Uncle Gary was not happy at being awoken an hour or so earlier to find out from his nephew's parole officer that he had been in a fight.

Chase finished and stood up, tossing his plastic fork down and making way for his room. "Hey, kid." His uncle said, swallowing a wad of meant. "What?" Snapped Chase impatiently.

"Did you whoop his ass?"

Chase considered his dead beat uncle for a moment, wondering as to what purpose he would have to ask. After a few seconds, he supplied a curt nod.

Gary just nodded, before standing up and striding to the fridge for his third or fourth beer since he was awakened.

Chase was already in his room.

One of the things Chase was quick to catch on to was that rumors traveled _fast _in HA. Even as he traveled through the halls, he heard whispers and stories of him pulling a knife on Trevor the Senior, and some even as far fetched to say that he permanently crippled him.

He paid no mind to I though. People could believe what they wished, and it would be a dead story by tomorrow anyway.

He entered his acting class just as the tardy bell rang and he pulled up a chair and sat next to Andre, who clapped him on the back in greeting.

"Speak of the devil!" Andre said with a grin. "Good on ya for standing up for yourself man! Is it true you broke his kneecaps?"

Chase allowed his lips to tug into a smirk before shaking his head. "Nah."

The group had plenty of questions, including multiple requests from Jade as to describe the blood, before Sikowitz Burst into class. He seemed rather flabbergastered, so to speak, and he quickly announced "Everyone….ACT!" And he was out the door to the class within seconds.

Chase frowned at the door before turning to Tori. He raised his eyebrow. "He's done it before. We just sit and socialize until he comes back." She said, pulling out her phone to tweet or whatever.

"_If _ He comes back!" Robbie said. Chase ran his fingers through his hair and said "Yeah…but is it _legal_?"

"No, but neither was beating the tar out of Trevor!" Rex the puppet piped from Robbie's arm.

"Shut up, Robbie."

"It was Rex!"

"Whatever."

Cat looked up from her phone and suddenly took a sharp intake of air. "Guys! Jade and I are hanging out this weekend!" She squealed, kicking her feet excitedly. "Jade said she would if she got to pick"

"I picked karaoke" Jade announced. Jeez, even in making a simple statement, she sounded threatening. That was when Chase noticed something odd. Beck and Jade weren't sitting together. In fact, they where on opposite sides of their little circle.

"Chase?" Cat asked, sounding concerned. Chase snapped back into reality, shaking his head and looking back at Cat. "Yeah?"

"Do you wanna come? It'll be fun!"

Chase shook his head, possessing no desire to be in a social situation outside of school.

Cat pouted staring at her feet. Chase sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. He honestly didn't want to be at a place where he'd be expected to dance at some point, and maybe even sing. But he just couldn't say no to Caterina Valentine.

"Fine. But I'm not gonna be much fun."

Cat squealed smiled, clapping. Andre grinned, before turning to Tori. "Tori, you comin' too? Can't go out for a night of karaoke without the queen of singing herself!"

Jade's eyes flashed visibly and the pencil she'd been twirling snapped in her fingers. Andre took notice of this and wisely scooted towards Chase, away from her.

On Chase's right, Tori smugly grinned at getting a compliment that so obviously bothered Jade, said, "Sorry but I have to babysit Trina. She's getting her wisdom teeth out." She groaned and pouted, resting her chin on her shoulder.

"Oh no!" cried Jade, in mock disappointment. "Now we won't get to hear little miss perfect _perform._" She stood up, grabbing her bag angrily and snapped at no one in particular, "The nutcase isn't coming back. Bye."

Andre gave a cry of pain as she stomped on his foot as she stormed out. Chase followed her with his eyes as she left the class, noticing she was still carrying his old grey Jansport, despite it not going with her style at all.

"Dang! She's even ganky-er than usual!" Andre said, massaging his toes, his shoe discarded on the floor.

"Yeah…" Chase muttered, mostly too himself, taking notice that Beck didn't Chase after her. Usually these two were inseparable, but Beck sat there, a look of concern painted on his face.

He stood up, also giving an excuse of Sikowitz's absence. He made a beeline for the door, getting out into the corridor just in time to see Jade's heel round a corner. He dashed after her, turning the same corner to find her at her locker, leaning against the scissor-covered safe, arms crossed and her jaw clenching furiously.

And she was _crying._

Chase approached her slowly, bewildered that the most rock hard, toughest girl he'd ever met was crying openly. She noticed him when he was about a foot away, and she gave him a look that clearly said that if he took another step, he was dead.

Making the smart decision and stopping, he leaned against the lockers, not really sure what to say.

"Why does everyone love her?" Jade whispered, beginning to shake furiously as she fought back the tears angrily. Chase just shook his head, and whispered back, "Jade, I'm sure Andre is just flirting with her. I mean, it's pretty obvious he likes-

Jade stamped her foot, effectively cutting him off. "Not that, you dumbass! Everyone loves her. Cat was _my _best friend, but now all she wants to do is go to _Tori's _house. _I'm _supposed to get the lead in every play, not that giraffe necked-" She couldn't continue, her voice failing her as she choked up, sobbing silently and shaking.

"I don't want to be second best…" She whispered, regaining her voice for a moment, only to lose it again.

Chase just stared, eyes wide, not sure how to react to this. Here was the most frightening girl he'd ever met, yet he was certain this was the most she'd opened up to someone, besides maybe Beck.

He did the only thing he could do, He simply moved forward and hugged her. She went rigid at the touch, and even put her hands up to his shoulders to push him away, but instead she wrapped them around his chest and buried her face in his shoulder.

After a few minutes, Jade stopped shaking and Chase released her, looking down at his feet and words failed him, as usual.

She punched him. He stepped back and rubbed his arm, glaring up at her, only to find her glaring back. "Tell anyone and die, got it?" She said, her normal voice returned to it's perpetually threatening tone

"Yeah, you're welcome…" Chase whispered, pushing past her to return to the classroom.

Chase never really enjoyed being alone in his room, but it was the only thing he knew. He lay on his bed, ignoring his flip-phone's vibration on the bedside table as Cat called for the billionth time.

He had absolutely no desire to face Jade after their encounter that morning. He stood up, walked to his drawer and pulled out a carton of menthols, and opened his window to smoke on his fire escape.

The cigarette relaxed him some, and he rested on the windowsill, balancing on the fire escape. He fully climbed out and leaned against the metal railing, breathing in the California air.

He flinched as a nearby car horn blared, cursing as his cigarette tumbled down 40 feet. He glared and glanced towards the road through the alley, only to see a bright pink PT cruiser, which could belong to none other than-

He shook his head, wondering how in God's name Cat could possibly get a driver's license.


End file.
